7 January 2003 -- As a result of service provider demand, the total metropolitan Ethernet equipment market will increase from USD837m in 2002 to USD4.4bn by the end of 2007, representing a 39% compound annual growth rate over the next five years, says IDC in its report "Worldwide Metro Ethernet Equipment Forecast and Analysis, 2003-2007."
"The metro Ethernet equipment market is an enormous opportunity for vendors," said Sterling Perrin, senior research analyst in IDC's Optical Networks program. "Revenue and growth will be substantial and should attract the attention of any large telecommunications and networking suppliers looking for growth opportunities over the next five years."
Although service provider capital constraints will continue to pinch the overall telecom market, metro Ethernet will grow strongly, driven initially by large consumer services in Asia/Pacific. Business-oriented services in North America and a mix of business and consumer-oriented services in Europe will also drive deployments, but IDC believes that by 2007 more than 60% of revenue will come from Asia/Pacific.
Contributing to revenue will be a mix of optical and datacom equipment including metro DWDM, SONET/SDH MSPPs, layer 2/3 switches, and routers. IDC finds, however, that layer 2/3 switches will command the largest share of revenue, at 48% of total revenue in 2007. With 7% of total revenue in 2007, metro DWDM will be the smallest revenue contributor.